Tombstone a Cautionary Tale for Mesquite

Tombstone, Arizona should be a cautionary tale of what could possibly become Mesquite’s fate if environmental groups succeed in declaring a large swath of the Gold Butte desert region a National Conservation Area with Wilderness. On May 16, the Goldwater Institute, a conservative-based organization, filed an emergency appeal of U.S. District Court Judge Frank Zapata’s decision that denies the small Arizona town from repairing its primary water source apparatus that lies within a federally-declared wilderness area. After fire and floods severely damaged Tombstone’s water reservoir and water lines with huge boulders and up to 12 feet of mud, the U.S. Forest Service denied the town access to fix the water source with all but the most primitive tools. According to the Wilderness Act of 1964, all areas designated as Wilderness must be limited to non-motorized, non-mechanized tools and travel. So workers trying to fix the reservoir and pipelines are limited to using shovels carried in on foot to make repairs. The Virgin Valley Water District holds the water rights to 2,154 acre feet of water located in the Nickel Creek area within the current Gold Butte Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). The area, 350,000 acres, is being considered for adoption as a National Conservation Area with Wilderness. According to Ken Rock, VVWD General Manager, that amount of water is enough to supply about 5,254 equivalent residential units (ERU) or approximately that many homes. Rock adds that the water would best be accessed with a horizontal well rather than a vertical well. It would require the construction of “a fair-sized pipeline in some tough area, but it could be done – certainly for that much water. And, we could get substantial hydroelectric power from the descending water. The water won’t have an arsenic issue, we believe.” While the Water District will always hold the Nickel Creek water rights even if the area is declared an NCA with Wilderness, no one refutes that, using Tombstone as an example, it may not matter...more